French government confirms raids on Apple stores

PARIS -- French competition authorities have confirmed that investigators raided Apple (AAPL) stores across France last week as part of an ongoing probe.

Autorite de la Concurrence spokesman Yannick Le Droze confirmed a report in French business daily Les Echos that first disclosed the investigation, but declined to answer questions about the reasons behind the probe.

According to Les Echos, authorities are investigating Apple's relationships with its distributors. An Apple distributor called eBizcuss, which went out of business last year, has reportedly filed complaints with the competition watchdog accusing Apple of favoring its own stores at the expense of independent distributors.